


A Phantom Bat

by Blue_Feather



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Danny Phantom
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Dysfunctional Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2020-05-29 15:51:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19403524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Feather/pseuds/Blue_Feather
Summary: Damien Wayne finds a strange Meta-Human in a brutal government facility and has no choice but to take him back to the bat cave.  How will Bruce respond to this?   Will the bat family be able to deal with a new family member, or will the hunt for the men responsible for hurting this teen tear their family apart?





	1. The Escape

**A Phantom Bat**

_Part One: There’s a Ghost in the Bat Cave_

_Chapter One: The Escape_

Batman had told Robin to leave well enough alone. The tip hadn’t come from a reliable source, and there were more important things to focus on than walking into what was probably a trap. But Robin looked into it anyway. He was mad at his father for always doubting his abilities, and wanted to prove to him, and himself, that he was perfectly capable of succeeding on his own; and looking into a potential case of meta human experimentation seemed perfect. 

The warehouse looked completely abandoned, and the only proof that Robin had the right place were the heat signatures; and a sleek black car that pulled out of an underground parking structure hidden beneath the building. A large amount of power was being consumed by something near the center of the structure. As the young vigilante snuck around on the nearby buildings, he spotted through his binoculars the tell tale heat signatures of hidden cameras built into the ramshackled crumbling walls. Turning his attention to the roof, he saw a large ventilation system. 

“Perfect,” he muttered to himself. 

Circling the warehouse, Robin found the best spot to leap onto the roof without any cameras picking him up. With a running start, he pushed off the neighboring building and leapt into the air, using his cape to glide across the gap. He rolled to cushion his fall, and made his way to the air vents. Robin noted that there was no way Batman would be able to squeeze himself into these vents, despite them being larger than was standard. Clearly this facility was working with something that requires a heavy duty ventilation system. 

Using a common multitool, Robin unscrewed a vent, and slipped down into the duct. Peering through the grates, he found himself in a maintenance room. Control panels and cooling units lined the walls, lights blinking ominously. Crawling onward in the tight space lead him to a hallway. The inside of the warehouse did not reflect the outward appearance. Everything here was new, clean, and state of the art. The hallway was cold white walls and floors, with heavy duty steel doors that possessed thumbprint scanners to open. 

‘All these security measures and yet no one is monitoring the vents,’ Robin thought to himself amused. 

After a little exploring, Robin found the room that seemed to be the source of the power consumption he noticed earlier. In a large dark room, a huge bank of computers lined one wall. After looking around to ensure he was alone, Robin used a small, powerful, laser to bore through the backs of the screws in the vent grate and dropped to the floor silently. Now with an unobstructed view, he explored the area. 

The center of the room seemed devoted to an examination table, with strange straps that glowed green and all kinds of nasty looking tools. What was clearly dried blood had pooled under the table, and Robin knew that the tip they’d received was at least partly right. Some kind of unethical experiments were definitely being done here. 

On the other wall, a large circular structure stood with a green swirling pool contained within it. It cast and eery light around the room. Robin thought it looked a bit like a zeta tube, but much more menacing. A strange device stood in front of the structure which appeared to be draining energy from it and storing it in large canisters. 

Turning away from the hypnotic green swirl, Robin focused instead on the computers, booting up what looked like the main terminal, which was surprisingly not password protected. He pulled a USB cord from his gauntlet and plugged it in to download as much data as he could, starting with the most recent files and working backwards. 

“Let’s see what you guys are up to,” Robin murmured softly, exploring the files while the download ran. He found what looked like the most recent video file, and after ensuring the sound was off, he pushed play. 

The screen showed a boy, no older than Robin himself, strapped into the examination table, both arms and one leg bound by those glowing green restraints. His hair was raven black, and his eyes were an icy blue. His mouth was open it what must be a scream of agony as men in lab coats repeatedly dislocated and relocated his right knee. Robin could only watch so much before he closed the video. 

Pulling up a different one, he found the same boy in a strange cage, the walls of which looked like a green force field. The boy looked exhausted in this video, and had a brutal black eye. As the video played, someone off screen pushed a cattle prod through the forcefield and into the boy’s side electing a scream. When the cattle prod was removed, a blue ring appeared around the boys waist which split into two, one traveling up and one down. Where they passed over the boy, his simple cotton clothes changed into a black and silver jumpsuit. His hair turned white, and his eyes a toxic green. The boy floated off the floor and glared directly at the camera, hate in his eyes. 

“Definitely meta experimentation,” Robin confirmed to himself 

Robin left off watching the videos, and instead started rummaging through a file holding budget information. He stumbled on a particularly interesting document which shocked him greatly. The government was funding this brutality! 

A sudden noise startled Robin as he realized someone was starting to open the door. He yanked his USB cable out of the computer, shut the system down, and leapt back into the vents, holding the cover in place. A simple security guard opened the door and swept a flash light around the room before closing it again. Breathing a sigh of relief, Robin used some fast acting glue to put the vent cover back in place. It only had to hold long enough for him to find the boy in the videos and get out. 

Since he was back in the vents, Robin continued his exploration of the facility. In the next room he found tanks of green swirling masses, but nothing that seemed alive. Moving on he found a break room, and a clean room that he couldn’t get into through the vents; a powerful fan blocked his way. 

Finally, he found a room with a single cell, housing a single prisoner. Looking down through the vent, the boy appeared asleep, with his hands behind his head on an uncomfortable looking cot. Like the rest of this place, his cell was cold and white, or it used to be. Dried blood was splattered on the floors and walls. Looking at the blood in the light, Robin noticed there seemed to be strange green flecks in it. Around the boys forearms, ankles, and neck were what appeared to be inhibitor collars, but they glowed green and the skin around them was red and irritated.

“Hey, you awake?” Robin whispered through the vent. 

The boy opened those piercing blue eyes and looked at the vent. 

“Did my ceiling just talk?” he asked.

“I’m Robin. I’m here to get you out.”

“Robin as in Batman and Robin?” the boy asked as if this was a totally normal conversation. 

“Yes,” Robin hissed annoyed. “Do you want out or not?”

“Well yeah,” the boy said slowly. “But I’ve tried break out before, I don’t know how you’ll be able to.”

Robin, annoyed with this nonschelant conversation, cut through the vent screws like he had before, and dropped down into the cell. The boy looked him over, but didn’t get up from where he lay. 

“Come on, we need to leave before they notice I’m here,” Robin said, holding out his hand to help him up. 

“You want me to crawl through the vents?” the boy asked, looking up at where Robin had come from. 

“Well duh, how else are you expecting to get out?” Robin was really starting to hate this rescue mission. 

“Oh, it’s not that the vents are a bad idea, but my knee is totally shattered right now, and crawling is going to be a bitch.”

Robin looked at the knee in question. Even through the ill fitting cotton pants the kid wore, he could tell it was extremely swollen. 

“Well look, it’s either crawl on a shattered knee, or stay here and be tortured till you die,” Robin said exasperated. 

“According to these assholes I’m already dead, but I guess you’re right. Help me up.” 

Robin ignored the weird comment and hauled the kid onto his one good foot. He made a step with his hands and boosted him up into the vent. After the kid dragged himself out of the way, Robin jumped up after him and sealed the grate back with glue. 

“Okay, which way?” the boy asked through grit teeth. 

Robin pointed to the right and lead the way, going as slow as he could for the boy to keep up, which was proving difficult. 

“I saw a loading dock on my way in,” Robin explained in hushed tones as they crawled. “I left my bike near it. It’s our best chance of a clean getaway.” 

“Please tell me you mean a motorcycle and not a bicycle?” the boy snarked. Robin didn’t even dignify the joke with a response. A moment later, an alarm went off throughout the building. 

“Shit, they know I’m gone,” the boy muttered. 

“Just keep crawling,” Robin responded. 

Finally, after what felt like an agonizingly long time, they reached the vent that lead out onto the loading dock. Robin cursed. The alarm at the boy’s escape had resulted in heavily armed guards appearing around the building. At least a dozen stood between the two teens in the vent and freedom. 

“What’s going on?” the boy panted behind him. 

“There are guards. There weren't any when I came in.” Robin explained. The boy wonder wracked his brain for a solution. The laser he needed to cut open the vent put off light; enough that they would probably notice. And if they didn’t, and he was able to cut it open, the moment they started climbing out of the vent, they would be spotted. If the kid wasn’t injured, Robin would just hold them off till he climbed out of the vent; but that was no good. The vent was at least seven feet off the ground, and there was no way the kid was getting out without help. Robin needed back up. 

“Crawl back, I don’t want to be spotted,” Robin whispered over the alarm. The kid scooted back further into the vent shaft and Robin followed him. Once he deemed himself far enough away so he wouldn’t be overheard, he made a phone call with his headset. 

On the second ring, it picked up. 

“Robin?” a voice on the other line asked. 

“Nightwing I need a favor.” 

“What did you do?” Nightwing asked, instantly suspicious. 

“I’m just in need of some help on a mission,” Robin replied. 

“You did the thing Bats told you not to do didn’t you?”

“So what if I did! I need your help goddamnit!” Robin quietly yelled into the communicator. There were several seconds of silence. 

“Where are you?” Nightwing asked. Robin gave the address with a sigh of relief. 

“I’ll be there in five minutes. Tell me the situation,” Nightwing said. 

“I’m in a ventilation shaft on the northside of the building where the loading dock is. I’ve got a meta they’ve been running exterements on,” 

“Danny,” the kid piped up. 

“Danny,” Robin continued. “His knee is busted and there’s a dozen guards trapping us in. I need you to cause a distraction so I can get this kid out of here.” 

“Got it. I have the perfect thing,” Nightwing said. “I’ll keep the line open incase something comes up.” 

The next few minutes where agony. Robin knew it was only a matter of time before they found his tampering and realized they were in the vents. But luck was on their side that day, and they weren’t found when Nightwing spoke up. 

“I’m here. I see the loading dock. On my signal, get moving.” Robin and Danny crawled back to the vent, and Robin got out his laser to begin cutting. 

“What is that?” one of the guards said as something zoomed by, tossing dozens of smoke bombs onto the loading dock. Gunfire went off as visibility decreased to zero, and a few took off after the biker. 

“Now!” Nightwing called over the headset.

Robin cut through the grate as fast as he could, not bothering to make it a clean job. It clattered to the ground as Nightwing sped by again, dropping more smoke bombs and tossing a few flash bangs into the mix. Robin jumped to the ground and turned around to catch Danny as he awkwardly flopped out of the vent, barely containing a yelp of pain as his knee jerked painfully. 

“Nightwing, I need you to take Danny,” Robin yelled into his headset over the commotion as he practically dragged the meta around the side of the building. Nightwing appeared out of the smoke and pulled Danny onto his bike instructing him to hold on tight. Robin pushed a button on his gauntlet and his bike roared to life where it was hidden in a nearby ally and drove to him on auto pilot. With a running start, he leapt onto the bike without it losing any momentum and followed Nightwing away from the facility. 

Once they were far enough away that they could be sure no one was following, Nightwing pulled up next to Robin. 

“We need to get this kid to a hospital now!” Nightwing said. 

“No!” Danny and Robin said at once. 

“What?” Nightwing asked. 

“That facility is government funded!” Robin explained. “If we take Danny to a hospital, they’ll just find him and take him to some other facility where we will never find him again!” 

“He is totally right,” Danny added. 

Nightwing was quiet for a moment, his face screwed up in thought. 

“Then there is only one place to take him,” Nightwing concluded. 

“Father is going to love this,” Robin groaned.

  



	2. What to do

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait. Last week was kinda crazy, hopefully you won’t have to wait two weeks for the next chapter. Also I’m kinda dyslexic so I’m sorry for the misspellings, I’ll fix them as I find them.

_Part One: There’s a Ghost in The Bat Cave_

_Chapter Two: What to do_

  


Robin tapped his foot impatiently as the zeta tube slowly charged. The dark abandoned apartment building the teleportation device was stored in smelled of mold, but at least rats couldn’t get into the secured room. 

Danny groaned from where he sat on the floor with his back against a wall. Robin could tell that his adrenaline was wearing off and he was starting to feel the pain in his knee. Now that he had the time to really look at the kid, Robin realized just how thin and pale he was. He wondered how long he’d been in that facility. 

Nightwing was also looking at the kid, that dumb expression on his face that meant he was deep in thought. The Zeta tube had actually been Nightwing’s idea. They didn’t want to take Danny straight to the bat cave; they couldn’t have him figuring out where it is. So the zeta tube seemed like a good idea. But this one was usually powered down to avoid drawing too much attention, and took a while to power up. 

Robin glaced at Danny again, and saw he was rubbing the sores on his wrists, probably from the harsh metal restraints on that table. He also wondered why the kid needed so many inhibitors, and why they were irritating his skin. 

Finally, with a happy ping, the Zeta tube powered on. Nightwing gave the necessary commands so the zeta tube would let Danny through. 

“Come here kid,” Nightwing said gently as he helped Danny to his feet. The kid gave a yelp of pain as Nightwing pulled his arm over his shoulder. 

“You okay?” Nightwing asked gently. 

“Fine,” Danny said through gritted teeth. 

Robin rolled his eyes as he grabbed his and Nightwing's bikes. Awkwardly, he guided them through the Zeta tube, Nightwing practically dragging Danny behind him. 

On the other side of the blue portal was the welcome sight of the bat cave, and a very unwelcoming sight of a furious Batman. He stood in full armored garb, arms crossed, his signature scowl darker than normal. 

“Shit,” Robin cursed under his breath. 

When Nightwing and Danny appeared through the portal, Batman’s scowl only darkened further. 

“What do you two think you are doing?” he demanded.

“Our job,” Robin said, letting go of the bikes and crossing his arms to match his father's stance. 

“And what is that exactly,” Batman questioned darkly. 

“Last I was aware it’s saving people and stopping criminals,” Robin stated flatly. 

“Your job is to do as I say,” Batman said. “And I said not to follow that tip. On top of that, you know it’s against the rules to bring civilians here.” 

“He’s injured,” Robin protested. 

“Then you should have taken him to a hospital.” Batman turned on Nightwing. “I’m surprised you let him pull you into this. Now take that child to a proper hospital.” 

“Batman,” Nightwing began in a placating tone. “We can’t do that.” 

“Why not?” Batman interrupted. 

“Because the facility that was torturing him is government funded!” Robin yelled to regain his father's attention. Batman turned back to Robin, his expression softened a fraction as he processed what Robin had said. For the first time, he actually looked at Danny, who hadn't said a word since arriving. Nightwing was supporting all his weight, and his eyes were glossed over with pain. He turned back to Robin. 

“How can you be sure of this?” he asked. 

“I downloaded the documents off their main frame,” Robin stated. Batman nodded to himself. 

“Fine. He can stay for now. But those inhibitors are staying on till I say so.” Batman declared. “Take him to the med room.” He nodded to Nightwing. 

Robin followed Nightwing while Batman contacted Alfred, using the codename Agent A, and requested that he come down to look the kid over. 

The whole group was quickly gathered in the med bay. Nightwing lifted Danny onto the medical bed, and was busying himself by getting an IV ready. Alfred, wearing a domino mask, arrived just as he was about to insert the needle, but had run into a problem. 

“Batman,” Nightwing said. “We have to remove one of these inhibitors. They’re blocking his veins.” 

“No,” Batman said firmly. 

“Look at him!” Robin said exasperated. “He needs fluids, and pain killers.” 

“Excuse me,” Danny said, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. “I’m not going to do anything if you take them off. It’s not like I want to fight you guys or anything. You could seriously kick my butt right now.” 

“What’s your name?” Batman asked. 

“Danny.” 

“Danny. What powers are those inhibitors blocking?” Batman asked. 

Robin looked at his father, unsure what his plan was, but knowing there was one. 

“Uh, well,” Danny started. “They aren’t really inhibitors like you’re used to. They’re mostly a housing unit for ecto-uranium.” 

“Ecto-uranium?” Batman asked.

“Yeah. It corrodes ectoplasm which is what my powers are in a way,” 

“Just answer the question Danny,” Batman said, his patience slipping. 

“Oh, right. I can turn invisible, and intangible. I can shoot a sort of plasma beam from my hands. I can make shields. I can levitate. I have ice powers. And I have a sound attack I call a ghostly wail, but it’s really draining.” 

“Ghostly wail?” Robin asked. “Are you a ghost or something?” 

“Half ghost actually,” Danny said. 

“And this ecto-uranium prevents you from doing all of this?” Batman redirected the conversation. 

“Yeah. It also really hurts.” 

“Those ‘inhibitors’ are causing you pain?” Nightwing asked. 

“Yeah. But honestly, my knee and chest hurt worse right now.” 

“What’s wrong with your chest?” Batman asked. 

“Uh, it’s kinda gross,” Danny’s sentence trailed off. 

“Robin, get my tools. Let’s see if we can get these inhibitors off,” Batman said. 

“Right,” Robin replied as he left to do as he was told. 

“Nightwing, get the x-ray setup. We need to know what is going on with his knee.” 

“On it,” Nightwing said. 

“Agent A, see what you can do about his chest.” 

“Yes sir.” 

Robin came back lugging a tool box, which he set on a table. 

“Okay, I think I got everything we ne…” Robin froze in his tracks. Alfred had cut Danny’s shirt off revealing a ghastly wound. A huge Y shaped gash was carved into his chest, a wound Robin recognized from biology class. Someone had dissected him! 

“What…” Robin managed to say, which prompted Batman to turn around. 

“Robin,” he said to jolt his son out of his stupor. “I want you to help me get these inhibitors off.” Robin shook his head to clear it. 

“Uh, right.” 

Together the two set to work trying to bypass the digital locks on the ecto-uranium bands. They were designed to be unlocked with some kind of radio signal, and trying to find the right one would take much longer than forcing their way through.

Nightwing came back with the x-ray machine, but Batman decided to wait to use it until the ecto-uranium was out of the room. He didn’t know how the unknown substance would react to radiation. Meanwhile, while he and Robin worked on the inhibitors, Alfred did what he could for the vivisection wound. He cleaned it as best he could, but was unable to properly stitch is shut, as it had been opened several times, and the skin was too weak. The scar tissue from previous attempts of his body to heal the wound also hindered things. So Alfred had to settled on wrapping the injury in a thick layer of gauze and bandages. 

“I got it!” Robin declared as he removed the first of the inhibitors, the one that had been on Danny’s left forearm. 

“Show me,” Batman said from where he stood on Danny’s other side. 

“It’s easy,” Robin said. “There’s a hinge hidden below this panel,” he pointed to it on the inhibitor Batman was working on. “You just have to cut it with a laser. The whole thing will fall off.” Robin moved to cut the ones off of Danny’s legs, and Alfred moved in to clean the wounds on Danny’s arm from the ecto-uranium and finally insert the IV. 

“It looks like a burn,” he said quietly while he cleaned. 

“Hurts worse than one though,” Danny replied. Alfred looked at him with pity in his eyes while he inserted the IV into his arm. 

“This will help,” he told him. “I’ve seen my fair share of battle wounds, but I'm surprised at you. You seem relatively calm for the amount of pain you must be in.” Danny just shrugged. 

“Nothing compares to having hands rooting around inside you.” Everyone paused for a moment at that statement, but quickly moved on. It could be addressed later. 

Finally, all the ecto-uranium was removed from Danny and the room. Everyone stepped outside while they took several x-rays of Danny’s knee, and the rest of him for good measure. When they came back in, Danny had passed out, the heavy dose of morphine doing its job. They looked at the x-rays, and realized just how bad the damage was. 

“We need to call Dr. Thompkins,” Batman decided. “The damage to his knee is too severe for Alfred to fix.” 

“I don’t see any damage to the bones,” Robin said, looking over the x-ray. 

“No,” Nightwing said. “But the ligaments are shredded. It looks like they are already trying to heal, so he must have some kind of advanced healing factor, but they won’t heal completely without surgery.” 

“Advanced healing would explain how he has survived for so long,” Alfred added. 

“Yeah, just look at his ribs,” Nigthwing joined in. “I couldn’t tell you how many times they’ve been broken.” 

“Every major bone in his body has been broken,” Batman said as he looked over all the x-rays they took. 

“Poor kid,” Nightwing said. 

“Robin, let me see the data you pulled from the labs computers,” Batman said. 

“Sure. Here,” Robin slipped his gauntlet off and handed it to his father. 

“Agent A, call Dr. Thompkins. Explain the situation and ask her to come over as soon as possible,” Batman ordered. 

“Yes sir,” Alfred pulled a phone from his pocket and stepped out of the med room. The three vigilanties stepped out as well, heading for the main computer. Batman plugged Robin’s gauntlet into the mainframe and looked at the sheer volume of files he’d gotten. 

“There was no security on the computer,” Robin explained. “I guess they didn’t think they needed it.” 

“For a government facility that’s surprising,” Nightwing said. 

“It looks like they’ve been running experiments on beings they are referring to as ghosts,” Batman said as he read through a few documents. “But these energy signatures are not like the ghosts I'm familiar with.” 

“Yeah, ghosts don’t have a form,” Robin said. “And I don’t think you can be only half ghost.” 

“I don’t think ghost is the right word,” Batman said. “Just look at this.” On the screen was a blueprint for some kind of round structure. 

“Hey, that thing was in the room with the mainframe.” Robin said. 

“It says here that this is a portal to the ghost zone. Some kind of flip side to our reality.” Batman read further. 

“So is Danny a ghost or isn’t he?” Nightwing asked. 

“I’m not sure what he is, but according to these documents, he is powerful. We need to be careful that this group, this GIW, doesn’t find out where he is. They are going to want him back.” Batman said. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think, and if you have any requests, throw them my way. I’ll be happy to try to incorporate them if I can. Also, reviews fuel me.


	3. Rules Rules Rules

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story. It really keeps me motivated to get a chapter to you every week. Thanks for the support.

_ Part One: There’s a Ghost in the Bat Cave _

_ Chapter Three: Rules Rules Rules _

  
  


Even after Nightwing had gone home to Bludhaven, even after Damien had been sent to bed, Bruce sat at the computer in the bat cave going through the files on Danny. Dr. Thompkins had called Alfred back to let him know she had just gotten out of a surgery and wouldn’t be able to come look at the kid till after she had gotten some sleep. She would be by at 6:00 am at the earliest. 

Unfortunately, Damien hadn’t managed to get everything from the lab’s computers, only files opened in the last six months or so were downloaded before he was interrupted. However, there was one file that was particularly helpful. It appeared to be the lead scientist’s journal, and the first entry was dated to just over a year ago. Unfortunately, some of the information was corrupted. 

“ _ May 14, XXXX The ----- -- --- child Daniel Fenton arrived today. Finally, after a year of trying to capture this --------, we succeeded. Dead at the age of 14, this creature ------- unimaginable power, which we determine -- exploit _ .” 

Bruce was able to learn a lot from this single passage, and there was still so much more of this journal to read. However, he paused for a moment, and looked up the name Daniel Fenton in several databases. He wasn't expecting much, but something came back almost immediately. His computer returned a death certificate for Daniel Fenton, age 15. He did a double take on that. 

‘15?’ he thought to himself. Looking back at the journal, it said Danny had died when he was 14. And on top of that, Danny very clearly wasn’t dead. Digging for a few more minutes brought up a newspaper article dated to just over a year ago. The headline read, “ **Whole Fenton Family Dead in Lab Accident** .” The article itself didn’t give much useful information, just that all four members of the Fenton household, along with two other children who were friends of Danny, had perished in an unexpected explosion at the Fenton home. Preliminary examination showed that the most likely culprit of the explosion was a failed experiment in the basement lab of the Fentons, who were scientists by trade. 

‘Poor kid,’ Bruce thought to himself. But still, if there was a death certificate for Danny, and the rest of his family, how did he end up in a government funded lab? And why were the ages of death listed differently? Reading further in the journal didn’t give any hints, but Bruce read it anyway. The majority of the document, what wasn’t corrupt, explained in gruesome detail the experiments they were running on the kid. An entry about a month after the first included a video file had been inserted into the text. Before watching it, Bruce read the entry. 

_ “We’ve made a very interesting discovery -----. It appears the ghost --- a weakness to electricity. This may be very useful in getting it to cooperate ---- our experiments as it’s stubbornness is proving difficult. This discovery was made as great scientific advances tend to be, by accident. While trying to get the ghost to turn invisible, a ------- modified taser was used, and the results ---- unexpected.” _

Bruce pressed play on the video. Danny was standing in a small cage, the walls made of a translucent green material. Bruce recognized it from the video Damien had shown him of Danny transforming. But Danny did not look anywhere near as beat up in this video. His cheeks were not as gaunt as they were now, and his skin still looked tanned and healthy, his hair a slick black. But there was hate and rage in his eyes. He stood with his arms crossed, glaring at someone off screen. 

“Turn invisible now!” a man demanded. 

“Screw you!” Danny spat vehemently. 

“Do it now ghost!” the man yelled back. 

Danny lifted a single finger in protest. In response, what looked like a cattle prod was pressed through the wall of the cage. Danny pressed himself against the wall but was unable to escape the device as it jammed into his ribs. The sound of agony that the child released turned Bruce’s stomach. When the taser was removed, the boy collapsed to the floor, leaning against the side of the cage and panting for breath. 

“Turn invisible!” the command was given again. Danny looked at someone to his right, and grit his teeth, a wild light in his eyes. 

“Screw. You.” he said slowly and deliberately. 

“Turn it up,” a female voice ordered. After a second, the taser was pressed back into the cage. This time, when Danny opened his mouth to scream, no noise came, his body convulsing. After just a second, his eyes rolled up in his head, but his body continued to convulse. 

“Stop stop!” the woman’s voice came again. The taser was removed and Danny remained slumped against the wall. “I told you to turn it up not fry him!” the woman accused. 

“I only turned it up one notch,” the man’s voice replied. Someone in a lab coat stepped into frame behind the cage, their face obscured by a medical mask. With ease, they stuck their hand through the wall of the cage, and grabbed a fist full of Danny’s hair. They pulled the boys head up, but not even that woke him. He was completely unconscious. With that the video ended. 

‘So he’s weak to electricity,’ Bruce pondered. That gave him one other weapon to use against him if that ever became necessary. The strange green ecto-uranium was the other. A small piece of the green substance was currently sitting in a device to analyze its make up, and determine if it was dangerous to humans at all. If everything came back clear, Bruce intended to make a few weapons out of it as well, just in case. He was also considering getting his nth metal out, but he had yet to determine if it would prove effective against the kid. 

Bruce researched and planned till the sun rose, and someone came down into the cave. 

“Long time no see Bruce,” Dr. Leslie Thompkins greeted. 

“Thanks for coming,” Bruce said. He spun his chair around to greet her. He’d been looking at the rest of the videos Damien had gotten, and they were all gruesome 

“So, where’s this kid I’m here to look at?” she asked, getting right to the point. 

“In the medical room,” Bruce replied as he walked with her across the cave. 

“Anything I need to know about this kid?” she asked. “Alfred just said his knee is in bad shape and you couldn’t take him to a hospital.” 

“That’s correct,” Bruce said, as they entered the room. Danny lay on the bed unconscious. He was hooked up to an IV that was pumping a heavy tranquilizer into his system, as well as several monitors. Even unconscious, they could tell he was in bad shape. Alfred had done his best to clean him up, but his hair was still filthy, and the bruising on his face looked painful. His neck and torso, as well as most of his arms were wrapped in bandages. 

“He’s a meta,” Bruce explained as Dr. Thompkins took his pulse and examined him. “We believe he has a healing factor, which would explain how he survived for so long.” 

“Survived where?” she asked, pity in her voice. 

“Right. Robin found him in a lab. They’ve been running experiments on him, some of which where more torture than anything else.” 

Leslie moved to Danny’s injured leg. As she felt it she asked, “Do you know what they did to his knee?” 

“According to the videos and documents Robin got off their computer, I can confidently say they were repeatedly dislocating it.” Bruce answered. Leslie grimace. “Can you do anything for it?” He asked. 

“Yes, I can do my best. But even with that it won’t heal completely,” she said solemnly. “If his healing factor is fairly good, he should be able to walk again, but he will always limp. With a lot of physical therapy he may even be able to run for short distances. But this injury is forever going to slow him down.” 

“Do what you can.” 

  
  


* * *

Danny woke up staring at a white ceiling, and for a moment he didn’t know where he was. His body felt strange, and his thoughts were jumbled. A constantly beeping lined up perfectly with the loud thrumming in his head. After what felt like forever, he slowly remember the events that brought him here. 

‘Right. I’m in the bat cave,’ he thought to himself. Turning his head he found the arm of the medical bed, and on it, a small control panel. Slowly, he lifted his arm and pressed a button. The bed began to lift his head up and move him into a sitting position. From there, he was more able to take stock of his surroundings. 

He noted that he wasn’t really wearing anything except a pair of underwear that were too clean to be his. A huge mass of bandages obscured his knee and kept it from bending. Looking around the room, he saw pretty much what you would expect to find in a hospital, medical equipment that he had no idea the use of, a few stainless steel tables, and hanging in the corner, a camera. 

Next to the bed on a side table was a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. Danny grabbed it and weighed it in his hand for a moment before chucking it at the camera. It hit the lens square on and jolted the camera so it was facing a little more to the right. The bottle fell onto a table holding a bunch of surgery equipment and caused a loud crash. Pleased with himself, Danny lay back against the pillow and waited. 

It took less than a minute for Batman to open the door and glare at him. He was wearing the cowl, but his cape and armor was absent. 

“Don’t throw things at my cameras,” he said as he crossed his arms. 

“I was just trying to get your attention,” Danny snarked back. 

“Well you have it. What do you want?” Batman asked. 

“How long have I been out?” Danny asked, the attitude leaving his voice. Batman narrowed his eyes. 

“About 24 hours,” he said. 

“I’m guessing you drugged me then, because I can’t sleep that long on my own.” 

“I did. I thought it best to keep you under until after your surgery.” 

“What surgery?” Danny asked. 

“I had someone work on your knee. It’s not going to be perfect, but at least you’ll be able to walk on it eventually.” 

“Oh, thanks,” Danny said simply. A loud growl sounded in the room. 

“I imagine you’re hungry,” Batman said, and amused look crossing his face. 

“You could say that,” Danny grinned back, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. Batman pressed a finger to the side of his head. 

“Agent A, will you prepare some food for our guest?” 

Danny didn’t hear the reply, but he could guess at it. Batman grabbed a chair that was leaning against the wall and set it next to the bed. Danny leaned away from him slightly as he sat down. 

“While A is preparing your food, we need to talk.” 

“Okay, what about?” Danny asked, his expression cautious, but curious. 

“If you are going to stay here, I need you to follow a few rules,” Batman started. “Rule number one,” Batman held up one finger, “don’t touch anything. I don’t want you messing with anything that I don’t tell you is safe. There’s all sorts of dangerous and sensitive equipment here.”

“Fair enough,” Danny said. 

“Rule number two,” he held up two fingers, “Don’t leave the cave. Don’t go up the elevator, don’t go out through tunnels, don’t phase through the walls. Those people who had you will still be looking for you, and if they get ahold of you, I can’t guarantee I will find you again.” ‘That and you’ll see the manor,’ Bruce added to himself. 

“Rule number three, no powers. Except maybe levitation, considering your leg. I definitely don’t want you phasing through anything. And the most important rule of all, you will do exactly as I say exactly when I say it. If you can’t follow these four rules, I will have no choice but to kick you out onto the street. Do you understand?” 

“Yeah, I understand. But why bother?” Danny added. 

“What do you mean?” Batman said. 

“I mean, why help me?”

“Do you not want my help?” Batman asked, sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms. 

“I mean, don’t other people need your help more?” 

Batman narrowed his eyes. “I’m helping you because I want to kid. And this organization that had you, I want to understand why and take them down if I can. They’ve already moved all their equipment, I sent a drone to check them out after we were sure you where fine, and the whole place was cleared out.” 

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Danny said. “The GIW has always been slippery.” 

“You’ve dealt with them before?” Batman asked. Danny’s body tensed up, and Batman realized he’d found something the kid wasn’t going to talk about easily. “It’s okay kid.” Batman reached out to rest a hand on Danny’s, but he flinched away, and Batman pulled back. After an awkward silence, they were saved by Alfred entering with a tray of food. 

“Am I interrupting something?” he asked politely. 

“No, I was just on my way out,” Batman stood and went to walk out the door. Danny saw him whisper something in the butler’s ear, but didn’t catch what it was. And then, Batman was gone. 

“I assume you’re hungry master Danny,” Alfred asked. 

“It’s just Danny,” he said. 

“Very well master Danny,” Alfred said with a gleam in his eye. Danny knew he wasn’t going to win this battle, but he wasn’t going down without a fight. 

Alfred unfolded legs from the tray he was carrying, and set it down across Danny’s lap. Immediately, his mouth started watering. The tray contained a bowl of what smelled like chicken noodle soup, and a slice of chocolate cake. There was also a tall glass of water, but it looked a little cloudy. Danny picked it up and examined it. 

“It has vitamins dissolve in it,” Alfred explained. “You are in desperate need of it.” 

Danny shrugged and downed it. Alfred was tempted to tell him to slow down, but knew it would be useless. Danny finished his food and Alfred took the tray away. 

“Is there anything else I can get you Master Danny?” he asked. 

“Uh, do you have any comic books?” he asked hesitantly. “And it really is just Danny.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things should really start to get interesting in the next chapter, Danny will be causing a little mischief.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think. I hope to update once a week, I already have the outline for most of the story figured out, but there are still room for suggestions if you want to see something.


End file.
